Well the 2016 “The Mitty” was not the smoothest weekend.
The lead up was hectic as usual. Tuesday we spent the day working with, you guessed it, brakes. We still had issues after all the bleeding, installing new lines, yada yada. So my last thought was to dump the stock proportioning valve. To do this I had to put in a Wilwood bias knob which I had purchased for a disc conversion. I decided to go with the popular disc conversion process but keep the drums for the weekend to avoid any hiccups. So we got a line made from the master cylinder, to the bias knob, out the bias knob and into a “T” and off to each rear wheel. Stock the car has a line from the master to each rear wheel, now just a single line.
Getting to work on new lines for the T.
The stock prop box out.
The master after blocking off one line.
Fittings made for the bias knob.
The “T”
We got the lines made but Wednesday I had previous commitments to visit the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta with Racing for Kids so I didn’t have time to work on the car. Luckily my dad offered to come out to my place to take over on swapping lines and everything. He got it all finished up and we went to bleed it before taking the car over to the track. After numerous attempts we didn’t get much pedal feel but loaded it anyway.
It was nice to make kids smile at the hospital. There is a smile under there I swear.
Thursday morning I arrived to find two nice puddles under both rear wheels, it was brake fluid. My first thought was great the new wheel cylinders are for some reason shot. I jacked the car up and couldn’t find a leak anywhere so I jacked the car up and placed some cardboard underneath. No sign of a leak. So I assumed it was probably just left over mess dripping from Wednesday’s last bleed. I went for a test drive and quickly realized the brakes were as bad as they had been and the prop box was not the actual problem. It became clear drums were indeed the issue. It took half the brake pedal to even see the pads expand. Not just that but we couldn’t get the adjuster to actually adjust or stay adjusted if we adjusted it manually. I’m sure we could have just rebuilt them but they’re a confusing uphill mess.
So Thursday afternoon I realized I had one last option. Disc brake conversion. Right now. We got to work but kept needing small things here and there. At around ten we had to crank up the generator and air grinder to grind down a bit to make the caliper bolts fit. We finally finished it up at one in the morning.
Getting to work.
TRASH!
So thankful to have friends who are willing to stay up until one in the morning to help me race. Especially these guys who drove down from TN that day.
Friday morning I was pumped and ready to hit the track for the first session of the weekend but of course there was an issue. While bleeding (had to wait until that morning because I needed to pick up another brake line from the shop) the car started leaking from the RR caliper pretty badly. So I missed the session while I worked on fixing the problem. Luckily it was fixed and the bleeding continued, this time with a pedal that didn’t feel like jelly.
So the second session Friday came and it was wet. I was actually kind of happy to see a wet track as some people would opt out of practicing since it would be dry the rest of the weekend and it would give me a chance to mess with the brakes and bias adjustments. The first lap was cautious and I slowly built up speed as I adjusted the bias. I started pretty full to the front and dialed it back. I finished second overall in that session on the time sheets but as I said it was wet and people were being cautious.
The next session Friday was a race. The Bob Woodman American International Challenge. This race puts “Foreign Production Sports Cars & Sedans (over 1.5L) vs. American GT Cars by invitation (Groups 2, 3, 5)” together for a fun race. Last year there was a massive field of cars, I think over 60, this year they split it into two different races and split cars to more reasonable speeds. The race was fun as usual. There is a video of it below.
Saturday morning we had our final qualifying session before the first WeatherTech Sprint Race of the weekend. I had pole for the race in class (HPC) but at the start the orange Rabbit behind got the jump, a little aggressive for a pass at the start but luckily I could avoid hitting him. From then on it was playing catch up as that killed my momentum. We had a full course caution come out with a lap or two to go when I started to get a misfire as I have had previously. It got bad enough I had to pull in to retire as the checkered flag came out, I still got third in class though from the gap.
Sunday morning was race two of the WeatherTech Sprint Series. I was pretty excited to get this race underway and optimistic that the car would do ok. We cleaned up some grounds that we found in questionable shape and charged the battery. Funny how I always find these things at the track and not when I’m playing with wires in the shop. Maybe I’m blind. I’m starting to think the missing issue may be electrical and not fuel, who knows though.
It was cooler as the race was in the morning, so the car would like the cool air. I was starting further behind the orange Rabbit which I wanted to catch. I was able to make up ground and got pretty close, sadly I couldn’t get close enough, traffic is a big part of vintage racing and I couldn’t get through. You can see the entire race on video below. So that sums up the 2016 Mitty for us. It wasn’t as smooth as 2015 but there was fun on track action as usual. What now? Time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a fix for all the charging/missing issues. We threw the idea of Webbers around but that won’t be legal if I want to stay in Prod. The popular choice is MS in HP but I hate wiring. As for the charging issues we’re looking at ripping everything out and wiring it up like a boat, bare minimum of everything.
Stay tuned for updates. For now here’s photos and videos from the week! These photos are from my wife, since we had some mechanical issues she didn’t get a chance to shoot from other corners. I’ll post other shots as I find them that others took.
My “crew chiefette” aka wife. So thankful to have a 100% supportive wife that isn’t scared to get her hands dirty at the track.
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/uVbcr3EkGTg
Some of the wiring mess I was dealing with.
Slowly but surely I cleaned up some grounds, untangled wires, and kept labeling everything I could trace.
A majority of the wiring here is for the switches and gauges. The issue was the alternator was wired to a switch and although I did wire in a new switch for The Mitty, it was not wired right on my end and was doing nothing.
Putting things back together. I also picked up an AIM Solo to use as a lap timer and to look at data. Very nice tool to have.
I needed some bling to go along with the new tires so gave my wheels a fresh coat of “Chevy Orange.”
Out of the shop and on the ground. Getting ready to load up.
If you have driven on new race rubber you know how amazing it is. Well worth the money but addictive…
Another interior shot.
Ready to go have some fun.
I will say it was a seriously hot weekend to be wearing racing gear.
The start of Saturday’s race and taking back first in HP.
Rabbit’s love grass. No we loaded the car in a small little grassy area where we could easily push it onto the trailer. No winch…
Let the fun begin…
The valves, I may be missing something as I won’t pretend to be an amazing mechanic, I’m always learning, but there’s nothing that I noticed that was obviously bent, even turning it over with a wrench. 
Since I like clean cars (or as clean as it can be) it’s a perfect time to scrub hard to reach places in the engine bay.
The start of the interior painting. I already have the entire back half done (not done in this photo) I just need to finish the roof back there then move to the front. It will look better for sure.
Getting the engine disassembled to take to the engine shop.
“In progress” shot.
